Chrono Trigger DS AU Review

Let's do the Time Warp again! ...Again!

Chrono Trigger is something of a myth for most Australians. It was originally released for the SNES in 1995, but never made it to our shores. In 1999, it was rereleased for the PlayStation with additional content – specifically, a few cinematics, the ability to listen to the (superb) soundtrack, view the art and other little extras. Again we missed out. Then other games that were given a very similar treatment by Square – FFIV, V and VI – began to appear in our local game stores, and for a glimmering, shining moment, we thought we might see this gem too. Alas, it was not to be.

Almost fifteen years after its original release, Square Enix has finally picked up that ball it dropped so long ago, and passed it overseas. For many, this will be their first experience with Chrono Trigger, and they are people to be both envied and forewarned - for although they are lucky enough to experience the magic for the very first time, it has been fifteen years, and the technological gap is something that must be addressed. As such, it is necessary to explain what Chrono Trigger is, before we can discuss the specifics of Chrono Trigger DS.

The game's premise, as spoiler free as possible, is this: Crono, played by you, wakes up on the day of the Millennial Fair – a celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Kingdom of Guardia. His mother tells him that his friend Lucca – a brilliant female inventor – is already at the fair, waiting for Crono's late (not in a dead way) ass. He hustles his way over, plays some fair games, and ultimately runs into a blonde-haired girl called Marle, inadvertently knocking her to the ground and dislodging her pendant from her neck. He makes it up to her by guiding her around the fair, and eventually the two meet up with Lucca, who wants to display her newest creation – a teleportation device.

Having never seen "The Fly", Crono jumps aboard without hesitation. Sparks fly, things float around, and he is whisked away... five feet to the right. It seems the teleporter works. Naturally Marle wants to try it for herself, and Lucca is more than happy to oblige, but things go awry when her pendant reacts strangely and a massive, swirling, blue gate opens up and sucks her 400 years into the past. Crono jumps back aboard the device and follows after her in the hopes of bringing her back, and what unfolds is a massive tale of time-travel, intrigue, magic and a healthy dose of Japan's big-scary-monster obsession. Honestly, Chrono Trigger's story is probably its strongest point, and this version – with rewritten dialogue that is closer to the Japanese original – really does keep you emotionally involved.

The game tracks your actions in many sequences (the fair especially), and depending on what you do, or even what order you do things in, will alter things later on down the road. Some of these have an effect on which (out of 13!) ending you get. The battle engine is turn-based like much of the Final Fantasy series, however, battles aren't random. Usually Most of the enemies you encounter can be seen on-screen before you initiate battle, and confrontation can sometimes be avoided altogether. Other times, the battle is scripted to start when you walk over a certain area, so you have less time to prepare.

While not the technically most proficient game on the DS, Chrono Trigger still holds up well. It also has one of the best soundtracks in gaming history.

The battles also aren't static. Whereas the usual turn-based RPG battle pits your guys against the enemy like two teams at the start of a soccer match, in Chrono Trigger, your characters are typically sort of scattered, and enemies are constantly moving. This actually has a very large impact on how battles play out, too, because your characters' special attacks (or techs) may affect enemies in a certain radius around you, or around your target, or perhaps it will hit all the targets in a line. This means that, rather than choosing your attack the moment your turn comes up, it may be beneficial to wait until the enemies are clumped together. Thus, Chrono Trigger plays further with the element of time.

Techs come in a few varieties – single, double, and eventually, triple techs, which involve one, two and three characters respectively. Which techs you learn and which are available for use depend on who you level with and have in your party. It's a pretty simple system, and switching characters in and out to learn all the techniques adds a layer of variety that most other RPGs still lack.